—Are You a Dead Dog or a Living Lion?DO967Portugal 19/6/77

—By Father David

1. THIS IS THE MORNING OF SUNDAY‚ JUNE 19‚ 1977, & I JUST HAD THE STRANGEST DREAM & EXPERIENCE BOTH! I'm just going to have to tell the dream the way it was because I still don't understand it, it was so clear & so vivid & I can still remember nearly every detail so clearly.—And I woke up immediately afterward, so I know it was of the Lord because that's the way His dreams almost always come. Amen, PTL! TYJ! Help us, Lord, to understand it all as we go ahead by faith & give it, in Jesus' name.

2. WE WERE ENTERING THE SOUTH GATE OF THIS BIG RANCH. It was more like what in California you'd call a ranch than a farm‚ & I'd say the whole ranch was about one mile square in size. There was a road on the South side from which we entered the ranch through a gate in the fence that surrounded it, a very tall fence about eight feet high, & then there was about a two-foot coil or row of barbed wire along the top besides, making the whole fence at least ten feet high!

3. AS I SAY, WE ENTERED FROM A ROAD WHICH RAN ALONG THE SOUTH SIDE THROUGH THE SOUTH GATE. I can't remember exactly what the road was like, but it seemed like it was just a typical country road. Of course the whole scene was somewhere way out in the country, & you & I were walking together as usual holding hands up this little dirt road which led into the ranch. It was a typical little farm road sort of like two ruts which led from the South gate due North.

4. I MENTION THESE DIRECTIONS BECAUSE SO OFTEN THEY'RE IMPORTANT IN THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A DREAM SOMEHOW. And on our right on the East side was the farmhouse, a large two-story old farmhouse, as I recall, & it was on our right on the East side of the little farm road as we walked up Northward on this farm road that was inside of the ranch. And out of the house came these two ladies who I had the impression had summoned us for help because something very mysterious had happened!

5. THE WHOLE THING HAD AN AIR OF MYSTERY ABOUT IT, VERY STRANGE, & I had the impression that the mystery was about her husband who didn't seem to be there. I don't remember real clearly the one woman because she didn't seem to be involved too much and she was like a friend, but I can still see the woman of the house very clearly.

6. I'D SAY SHE WAS A WOMAN ABOUT IN HER 50's WITH SHORT GREY HAIR just down a little below the neckline, as women of that age often wear their hair. It was parted in the middle, & quite wavy, almost curly, & falling down on both sides of her head. I give you every one of these details because sometimes they're significant. She was of medium size, not a bit fat, fairly thin in fact.

7. SHE WAS A VERY SWEET LADY, VERY REFINED TYPE & COURTEOUS & SHE GREETED US VERY GRATEFULLY as though we had come in answer to her call for help. She led us up this little farm road past the house as she talked with us & thanked us for coming, & we walked along the road through this grove of trees.

8. THIS WAS NO ORDINARY FARM because from where we were we could see no fields of any kind, but it was like it was one great large forest of very tall trees, they looked like eucalyptus trees, & the ground was quite dry much like a California ranch. In fact the lady reminded me a little bit of an old friend of my mother's that she used to talk about a great deal‚ that I knew as a little boy. I've forgotten her name right now, but she was a very dear sweet old lady whose daughter, by the way, had a ranch something like this out in the mountains. (Clara Duncan.)

9. BUT THE TERRAIN OF THE AREA THIS RANCH WAS IN SEEMED TO BE FAIRLY FLAT, at that particular point at least, & the road outside on the South side that we'd come in on was a long straight road‚ almost like it was on sort of a plain. I had the impression that the ranch was quite square, like a mile long on each side, & all fairly flat with no rises that I can recall.

10. IT SEEMED TO BE COVERED WITH THESE VERY TALL, TALL, LIKE EUCALYPTUS TREES. As I recall they were eucalyptus because of the shapes of the leaves, & they normally grow in very dry countries like California, Arizona & Australia. The soil was quite dusty & dry as it usually is in California, but it's still a mystery to me exactly where the ranch was located because of what happened afterward.

11. SHE APPARENTLY WAS TALKING ABOUT HER HUSBAND, & IT WAS AS THOUGH SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO HIM. My impression was that he had disappeared & she didn't know what had happened to him or what was wrong. So she was leading us to something she wanted to show us, & as we walked up this dusty road I noticed half buried in the dirt of the road at my feet was a pair of men's walking shorts like Bermuda trunks‚ the kind they wear in hot dusty countries where it's quite hot.

12. I REACHED DOWN & PICKED THEM UP & SORT OF SHOOK THEM OUT A LITTLE BIT & SAID‚ "ARE THESE HIS?" She said, "Yes‚ he was very fond of wearing trunks like that or walking shorts in this warm climate." They were‚ as I recall, of a tan colour & they seemed to be in fairly good condition except that they were dirty from lying in the dust, & I was wondering why they were out here in the road just lying there in the dust when they seemed to be useable shorts.

13. THEN ODDLY ENOUGH, JUST A LITTLE FURTHER UP THE ROAD I RAN ACROSS ANOTHER PAIR OF SHORTS LYING IN THE DUST. This pair were slightly different, I recall, & seemed to have a kind of a pattern on them. They were definitely a different pair of shorts but the same type of style. And finally as we walked on up the road, I found a third pair lying in the dust!

14. THREE PAIRS OF SHORTS ALL LYING EITHER IN THE ROAD OR AT THE ROADSIDE IN THE DUST like they'd just been cast aside for no apparent reason! It would have been perhaps not too completely strange to have found an old pair of shorts lying on the ground in one place, but three in a row is just almost too much! And she didn't seem to understand it either‚ why he'd taken off his shorts & why he had taken off three different pairs of shorts, apparently, whether it was at three different separate times or not.

15. BUT WE KEPT ON WALKING NORTHWARD UNTIL WE CAME FINALLY TO THIS GROVE OF TALL TREES. It was not too light there in the grove of trees, almost semi-dark, & here was a little hole in the ground with a little altar beside it. And around this hole & on a little altar in front of the hole were candles burning! The hole I'd say was about 18 inches wide & about the same depth, maybe two feet deep, & she was leading us to this hole to show us something.

16. AND STRANGELY ENOUGH, IN THE BOTTOM OF THE HOLE WAS A LION'S HEAD! It was lying rightside-up in the bottom of the hole, almost like it was still on the lion, but quite evidently had been either decapitated from the lion or the whole lion was buried there with only his head left sticking out, & it was quite evidently dead. And she said, "Well, he loved this lion very dearly & that's why he built this altar to it here & lighted these candles for it!"

17. AND I THOUGHT THAT WAS PRETTY STRANGE TO HAVE SO MUCH LOVE FOR A LION!—It was like it was all a part of the same mystery as to what had happened to her husband, & also like it was mysterious what had happened to this lion. He must have been a fairly big man from the size of the shorts that I found, & I had the impression that he was the Rancher there‚ as of course her husband would be, but I still didn't understand what he grew or what he was raising there.

18. WE WALKED ON UP THE ROAD THEN WHICH RAN DUE NORTH STRAIGHT TO THE NORTH SIDE OF THE RANCH, DISCUSSING THIS STRANGE GRAVE FOR THE LION, & we eventually reached the fence there. It was like we were looking over the ranch, & I had the feeling like she now wanted to sell it because he was gone, so she was showing us the ranch to show us around & show us what it was like.

19. AND AS WE REACHED THE NORTH SIDE THERE WAS THIS TALL HIGH FENCE AGAIN topped with barbed wire, & there was another country road beyond the fence running due East & West, a fairly flat level straight road. But just beyond the road was a steep hillside leading up to what seemed to be a fair-sized mountain, just on the other side of the road was this good-sized mountain. So having looked at that part & looked across the road, we walked then toward our left down another road which this time seemed to wind through the forest toward the West & toward the West property line.

20. AS WE GOT NEAR TO THE WESTERN SIDE OF THE RANCH THERE WERE SOME UTILITY BUILDINGS OF SOME KIND THERE, barns & so on, a few cattle & a farmhand who seemed to be taking care of the animals. And there was a fairly low fence, apparently it was an interior fence, not one of the high ones around the farm, just a normal little waist-high barbed wire fence running North & South, & the little road ended here at this little clearing with these buildings & this fence. Out beyond the fence where the cattle were it seemed like the forest was much thinner, & there seemed to be grazing fields lying beyond, where the cattle were grazing.

21. BEYOND THE FENCE THERE SEEMED TO BE MORE CATTLE, AND AS I CAME UP, I THINK THE MAN WHISTLED & here came bounding through the forest on the other side of the fence—& bounding completely over the fence & straight toward me in a very friendly playful fashion like a big dog—was this young lion! He was about the size of a large dog, & he jumped up & put his forepaws on my shoulders like a big dog will do sometimes & lick your face. He was being very friendly & very playful, & then he jumped off of me & ran toward the man like the man was sort of his master or took care of him. And I believe it was the workman, who said‚

22. "WE TRAIN THEM TO CARE FOR THE CATTLE, JUST LIKE YOU TRAIN SHEPHERD DOGS TO CARE FOR SHEEP! We train these lions to guard the cattle, just like dogs or like shepherd dogs."—And I was amazed that such a thing could possibly be done‚ that lions could be trained to guard cattle when normally they eat cattle! But of course dogs can be trained to guard little helpless sheep when dogs are from the same family as wolves & coyotes who have been known to eat sheep if wild.

23. SO QUITE OBVIOUSLY THESE WERE DOMESTICATED LIONS, DOMESTICATED ANIMALS WHO HAD BEEN TRAINED TO TAKE CARE OF THE CATTLE & guard the herds‚ & I was amazed to hear that they had managed to train lions to guard cattle! It all seemed to tie in with what we'd seen before. We had the impression from her that this lion we'd seen buried was one of his favourites & that he had been grieving over this lion & had then somehow mysteriously disappeared.

24. WELL‚ AFTER THIS AMAZING EXPERIENCE OF SEEING THESE LIONS GUARDING THE HERD, WE TURNED AROUND & WALKED SLOWLY BACK DOWN THE ROAD seeming to still be discussing the whole situation, & walked back toward the farmhouse. We passed by the little grave again & it was now on our left as we joined the main road, the North–South road through the ranch. It was right about at the junction of the two ranch roads—the winding road that came from the West & the main North–South road which seemed to divide the ranch in two.

25. AND JUST AS YOU CURVED ONTO THE NORTH–SOUTH ROAD HERE WAS THIS STRANGE GRAVE on the left with the candles burning & the altar set up before it—a small altar like a little box of not more than a foot high, & it seemed to be made of wood, as I recall. It was about a foot high & it might have been 18 inches long, about eight inches thick maybe with candles burning on it, & then a circle of candles burning completely around the hole.

26. AND I LOOKED AT IT ALL & MARVELLED & WONDERED AT THIS VERY MYSTERIOUS PLACE & ITS MYSTERIOUS LIONS & the mystery of what had happened to the owner or the rancher. Well, it was as though the dream were in two segments because the next thing that I remember we must have caught a bus, apparently, & I had been sleeping on the bus.

27. NOW THE DREAM WENT FROM ONE DREAM RIGHT INTO THE OTHER, JUST LIKE IT WAS A CHANGE OF SCENES IN A MOVIE! It was an unusually small bus like one of these small school buses that hold about 20 to 25 people at the most, & apparently I had been sleeping in the back of the bus. I woke up & I looked out the window & the bus was winding up this road like a main highway, it was only a two-lane highway, but a paved main highway that was winding upward first to the left & then around through this little valley to the right, a little valley between these hills.

28. THEY WERE NOT BIG MOUNTAINS BUT GOOD-SIZED HILLS COVERED WITH COTTAGES & HOUSES LIKE WE ARE COMING INTO A SMALL TOWN, & the bus was climbing up the road from the valley below‚ or some lower elevation, & winding around through the houses & on up the road between two hills that were ahead of us. And I had the distinct impression that we were going Eastward, definitely going Eastward.

29. AND AS WE CLIMBED THE HILL & CAME TO THE CREST OF THE HILL—or really a cut between two hills sort of—as we came up to the summit & looked over & down below us, out below us was spread a fair-sized town which sloped downward toward the sea.

30. I HAD THE VERY DISTINCT IMPRESSION IT WAS AN EASTERN SEA COAST & THAT WE WERE LOOKING EASTWARD. The driver drove his bus down into the town & parked it beside what seemed to be, not exactly a station, but a small shelter where people waited for the bus, & he parked his bus & the people all got out. I remember as we were riding up the highway I had thought,

31. "THIS IS VERY STRANGE COUNTRY, I'VE NEVER SEEN COUNTRY LIKE THIS BEFORE!—This is a strange land I've never been in before!"—I even had the funny feeling like it was a foreign country & I was a foreigner in a foreign land. So everybody had gotten out, & because we were in the back of the bus, we were last out the front door. And as the bus driver was packing up his things preparing to leave the bus I spoke to him & said,

32. "WHAT COUNTRY IS THIS?"—& HE LAUGHED & HE SAID SOMETHING WHICH SOUNDED LIKE IOWA. But I knew it couldn't be Iowa because the State of Iowa in the United States is in the center of the country far far from the sea—it doesn't even touch a big lake, it's not even near one of the Great Lakes. So I though, "That's funny, this is a strange country with a name that sounds like Iowa!"

33. AND IT WAS 6 O'CLOCK, I NOTICED, SO I SEEMED TO BE INTERESTED IN KNOWING WHEN THE BUS LEFT THAT WE HAD TO CATCH to go back where we were going, as though we were going back to the ranch, & I asked him, "What time does the bus leave to go back?" It was as though the bus had brought us from the ranch to the coast & we were there to sort of see the place. He said, "The bus goes back at 8 o'clock," so I looked at my watch & thought,

34. "WELL‚ WE HAVE TWO HOURS TO WALK AROUND & SEE SOME MORE OF THIS PLACE & TRY TO FIND OUT WHAT IT'S LIKE."—And that's really the last I remember! I remember it was sunny & the sea was blue & beautiful & the houses were light or pastel colours, very much like a Mediterranean country. But I had the very very distinct definite impression just as clear as anything that it was the East Coast of Southern Africa!

35. I HAD THE FEELING LIKE IT WAS SOMEWHERE ON THE EAST COAST OF SOUTHERN AFRICA, something like Durban‚ South Africa. I think there's a town‚ isn't there, on the East Coast of South Africa called Durban? Just a minute‚ let me look it up: There is a town on the East Coast of South Africa north of Transkei called Durban! Well, I had the distinct impression that it was somewhere along that coast, perhaps even Port Elizabeth!

36. NOW OBVIOUSLY THE PEOPLE SPOKE ENGLISH because the bus driver spoke to me in English, although I felt like it was definitely in a foreign country where I'd never been before & I was a foreigner in this country.—And that certainly would have fitted the description of the ranch from what I recall; parts of South Africa are a lot like California, dry & with eucalyptus trees.

37. THAT WOULD HAVE DEFINITELY FITTED THAT PART OF THE WORLD, & ESPECIALLY HAVING LIONS certainly fits Africa more than Iowa, so quite obviously the name was not Iowa, whatever it was. I don't know if I could find a name here on the map that comes anything close to that or not....Here it is!—Algoa!—Al'goa!

38. ALGOA BAY!—HE MUST HAVE BEEN NAMING THE BAY! Because we had come across the hill & we were facing this beautiful bay & the blue water! There's Algoa Bay right beside Port Elizabeth! (Maria: That's a long way from Durban.) Well, I didn't say it was Durban, but it impressed me as being on the Eastern coast of South Africa. Well‚ that would be definitely on that side of South Africa‚ only a little further South.

39. (MARIA: IT'S PRETTY CLOSE TO "IOWA" AL–GO-A!—IT DOES SOUND LIKE I-O-WA!)—I could have easily misunderstood him. Well, it was an unfamiliar name but it sounded like Iowa.—Algoa, Algoa! That could have been it very easily! Now we've got to find out if they've got ranches anywhere around there like that, Algoa. I wonder what the name of that big river is there that goes Northward from Algoa?

40. YOU'RE ALWAYS SUCH A HELP! THAT'S JUST EXACTLY LIKE IT WOULD BE! There's a big city, big town, Port Elizabeth, & it's right on Algoa Bay! Apparently there is a sort of a winding road that comes to the coast there‚ so it must not be exactly flat country. In fact just a little to the South here it says the Langluf Mountains.

41. THE MOST IMPRESSIVE PART OF THE SCENE WAS AS WE CAME OVER THE CREST OF THE HILL, the summit of the road looking out across the ocean, & I had the definite distinct feeling it was the ocean on the East side of South Africa!—And that certainly sounds like it could have been the name, because there's Algoa Bay right beside Port Elizabeth! Algoa ... Algoa ... Iowa ... Algoa ... Iowa ... Algoa ... Iowa!

42. SEE, I'VE NEVER HEARD THAT NAME ALGOA BEFORE, BUT I KNEW IT WAS SOMETHING THAT SOUNDED LIKE IOWA, & I told Maria to help me remember it right after I had the dream so I wouldn't forget. So we'll have to look up that part of South Africa & see if it's anything like it was in my dream. Well, that's not quite all that happened, because another very strange thing happened immediately afterward.

43. WHEN I WOKE UP I WAS BIG & HARD & LONG & PUSHY & I IMMEDIATELY WANTED TO MAKE LOVE, but I thought that Maria had said that she'd just started her period! So while I was debating what to do with it, & still feeling very good, she woke up & snuggled up to me & realised what was going on—as she always does whenever that happens—& she began to pat me & caress me as only she knows how to do! I said, "It sure feels good!—It's terrific, almost like going!

44. "BUT I WISH I HAD SOMEPLACE TO PUT IT!" And Maria said, "Well‚ why not me?" I said, "Well‚ I thought you said you'd started your period?" She said, "No, no‚ that was Sue that said she'd started her period!" I said‚ "Oh great, wonderful, praise the Lord!"—And so she climbed on & away we went! But the funny thing about it was that I was pretty tired, I had just drunk some wine when I'd waked up a short time before & I was sort of sleepy.

45. I WAS STILL IN THAT DREAMY TRANCE–LIKE STATE WITH ONE FOOT IN THIS WORLD & ONE FOOT IN THE OTHER, that state I'm usually in when I have these dreams or revelations, so I wasn't exactly feeling very energetic at all & I really didn't expect to go, frankly‚ because I was just tired & sort of still thinking hard about the Lion Farm.

46. BUT DEAR MARIA, SHE WAS REALLY GOING AT IT & MAKING GOOD LOVE TO ME AS SHE ALWAYS DOES, when all of a sudden while we were going‚ or at least making love—while I was fucking her or she was fucking me or we were fucking each other, I wasn't doing it with a lot of gusto but enjoying it—& all of a sudden she turned into a lioness, like one of the goddesses, but like a young lioness!

47. MAYBE IT WAS MY IMAGINATION, BUT IT SEEMED TO ME THAT WHEN SHE BECAME A LIONESS SHE JUST REALLY SOCKED IT TO ME & within just a few seconds I just mounted right up & went with the greatest of ease without even hardly half trying! I mean just all of a sudden, exactly when she became the lioness & began to really sock it to me—it excited me so, & that feeling mounts up within you with every stroke—all of a sudden to my surprise I just exploded!—And also too soon, because she hadn't made it yet!

48. I EXPLODED WITH SUCH A TREMENDOUS EXPLOSION THAT IT ACTUALLY HURT, & WE HAD TO STOP FOR A FEW MOMENTS WHILE I COOLED OFF before we could go any further! Then I wanted her to keep going until she went‚ but she said she'd had enough. She seemed to be more interested in getting the dream, & she was fiddling around with the microphone with one hand while she was trying to make love to me with the other!—Her greatest interest is the Word, not just sex.

49. IT WAS A REMARKABLE DREAM!—It seemed like all one dream except in two scenes, the Lion Farm & South Africa. Does South Africa have lions? That's funny, I'm going to have find out! I don't even know if South Africa has lions, but I had the distinct impression it had to be South Africa.—It couldn't have been Rhodesia, because Rhodesia's not on the coast.

50. THAT NAME ALGOA JUST FITS PERFECTLY TO WHATEVER NAME IT WAS THE BUS DRIVER TOLD ME! I said, "What is this, where are we?"—And that must have been what he was saying, "Algoa—Algoa Bay!" There's another town near there called Alexandria but that's too long—Algoa fits it perfectly! It's just East of Port Elizabeth, because there the coast begins to curve around toward the West. It's on the Southeastern tip of Africa!

51. SO WE MUST HAVE COME ALONG THAT ROAD & THERE MUST BE SOME HILLS THERE WE WOUND THROUGH—not tall high mountains, but definitely hills—until we came out on the coast at this fairly large city that was right there on this Bay! Now why wouldn't he have said Port Elizabeth? Why would he have said Algoa? Isn't that strange?—Unless he thought I meant the Bay.

52. AND THEN IMMEDIATELY AFTERWARD WHEN MARIA & I WERE FUCKING SHE TURNED INTO THIS LIONESS WITH ALMOST SAVAGERY, & it just excited me so, I knew immediately that I must have one of the goddesses!—And incidentally, she is a Leo, she is a lioness, so maybe she's just the Lioness Goddesses herself, amen? I think you must be the Lioness Goddess, Honey!

53. SO I GOT UP & WENT TO THE BATHROOM THINKING I NEVER HEARD OF A LION GOD BEFORE!—The Egyptians worshipped cats & calves & all kinds of other animals, a lot of cultures & civilisations & have worshipped other animals, but I don't ever recall any religion that worshipped lions!—And then the funniest thought struck me just as I was sitting on the toilet wondering, "Now what religion worships a lion?" & instantly & Scripture came to me "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah"! (Rev.5:5.)

54. CHRISTIANS WORSHIP A LION, HOW ABOUT THAT!—WE WORSHIP A LION GOD & OUR GOD IS CALLED A LION IN THE BIBLE! Jesus is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah! So there you are! I remember that a friend of ours in Israel was called Aryeh‚ which is Hebrew for lion, & there are all kinds of Scriptures about lions—I can hardly wait now to get into the Bible to study the Scriptures! I remember a long time ago, either back in Laurentide or on the Ranch, that Josh gave me a Scripture in which we were lions.—So if our God is a lion, Jesus is a Lion, then we must be young lions ourselves!

55. SO MAYBE THE YOUNG LIONS THAT WERE BEING TRAINED ON THE RANCH TO WATCH THE FLOCKS & HERDS ARE US!—That was the first thing that came to me after I had the dream!—And when it comes to religious beasts‚ I am surely the king of beasts! According to the way the rest of the World looks at us, we are the most ferocious, the most aggressive‚ & some people are even frightened of us. But I still haven't been able to figure out what in the World the rest of it meant‚ so I'm going to have to stop now to eat my breakfast while I think & pray about it.

56. IF THE LION FARM REPRESENTS THE KINGDOM OF GOD, HIS HERDS & FLOCKS & HIS SHEPHERDS & GUARDIANS OF HIS HERDS, then that lion which was buried must have been one of the young lions. The whole impression was that it was a lion that had been a favourite of the owner, so obviously the Owner was God!—But why the Owner kept losing His pants, I don't know!

57. WHAT IN THE WORLD WOULD THAT MEAN, GOD KEEPS LOSING HIS PANTS?—HE KEEPS BEING EXPOSED? Well, we've been exposed several times lately with all this publicity, right? It's like losing your pants! But there seemed to be something mysterious about where the owner was, what had happened to him. Of course God is kind of like us too‚ & in that sense I represent the Lord!—And I'm always getting caught with my pants down!

58. OH!—THEY ALWAYS REPRESENT ME AS A LION, REMEMBER? How about that? But it wasn't me that was buried there because I was looking at the whole thing. Well, if I'm God's representative‚ I've sure disappeared lately after losing my pants a couple places in some of these articles!—I have surely been exposed, & so maybe that has something to with it.

59. THE FUNNY THING IS‚ I GOT TO THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOUNG LION'S BEEN CUT OFF LATELY? What young lion has been cut off or decapitated, & it was like the owner was grieving over this young lion that had died or been killed. He had set up an altar & candles in memorial for him, but like it was something that was just unavoidable & couldn't be helped, that his young lion had been cut off.

60.AND THERE IS A YOUNG LION THAT I KNOW OF THAT'S BEEN CUT OFF FROM MY PRESENCE RECENTLY for his lack of respect & lack of appreciation & gratitude.—For his doubting, murmuring‚ critical spirit & his rather bad attitude toward me.—And I was grieving a little over him this morning because he just wasn't working out well here & we had to send him away.—And the burning candles around the altar are like my grief & prayers for him.—But what's that got to do with South Africa?

61. WELL, OBVIOUSLY & LITERALLY WE DON'T HAVE ANY LION FARMS, but the South Africa part was separated. See, the first part all about the lions could be symbolic, then the next could be literal. Maybe he's supposed to go to South Africa or something, maybe that would help him, to send him some place far away.

62. IT WAS JUST THIS VERY SAME MORNING THAT I HAD THIS DREAM THAT WE HAD TO SEND HIM AWAY & it was after he'd left this morning that I'd had the dream, so that could definitely have a connection. It's almost like I buried him. I have tried him several times, but this time I'd just practically given up on him, although I still feel sorry about it & sorry for him. But he had continually developed a constantly worse attitude, & although he worked hard & all, he simply just didn't have proper respect & the right attitude toward me.

63. HE'S A CANCER, & THEY'RE PRONE TO DOUBT, SELFISHNESS & POSSESSIVENESS, & he didn't always have the right attitude toward letting his wife FF.—He'd let her FF, but then he'd complain about it & gripe about it & murmur & mope around about it afterward & complain he wasn't getting enough attention & she wasn't loving him enough, etc.

64. SO WE FINALLY JUST HAD TO CUT HIM OFF & SEND HIM AWAY! We just couldn't stand to have him around, he was such a drain & kind of dragging us down. So maybe that was the young lion that was buried, & yet it's obvious that I loved him because apparently I put candles around him & built an altar & was praying for him—or at least God was, because God must have been the Owner, praise the Lord!

65. YOU MIGHT SAY THAT IF I'VE BEEN EXPOSED A FEW TIMES LATELY BY ALL THIS BAD PUBLICITY, THAT GOD HAS BEEN EXPOSED, & it has been in three different places. I found the pants in three different places along the road—Scandinavia, Madrid & the Canaries, where the three major bad articles have appeared, so that could be what that means. And in time sequence, we came to the grave after these three different exposures, like his departure just now.

66. SO NOW I WANT TO GIVE YOU SOME SCRIPTURES WHICH THE LORD BROUGHT TO MIND REGARDING LIONS, & one of the first things that came to me of course‚ as I already said, is that the Lord is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.—He is our King & our Lord & our Master & our Saviour! The lion is used in Scripture as a symbol of great strength & power, & Jesus Himself is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!

67. I MENTIONED ALREADY THAT I WAS KIND OF SURPRISED AT THE SYMBOLISM, & when I was making love with Maria & she suddenly turned into a lioness, I thought "How can this be? What people worship lions? What kind of a Goddess is this?"—And I was a little worried about it‚ until later in the bathroom when I began thinking about it, I thought, "The only people in the World I know of that worship a Lion & have a Lion as a symbol of their God are Christians!—Or also maybe some isolated tribes in Africa like the Simbas or whatever! Our God is a Lion, Jesus‚ the Lion of the Tribe of Judah!"

68. ONE THING THAT WORRIED ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT DREAM WAS HOW CAN THIS BE? HOW CAN LIONS BE GUARDING THE FLOCKS & HERDS OF GOD? Well, as I pondered that—I always like to go back to the Scriptures & see if I can find an answer there & the Holy Spirit usually brings some such Scripture to mind—& all of a sudden the Scripture came to me that says the time is coming when the "lion shall eat straw like the ox & the lion shall lie down with the lamb"! (Isa.11:6,7.)

69. SO IN GOD'S KINGDOM THERE IS PEACE EVEN BETWEEN THE SEEMINGLY RAVENOUS BEASTS & THE DOMESTICATED ANIMALS! I remember very well on my trip to Space City, as I lay down on the grass & started to go to sleep, this lion came over & licked me on the face & woke me up—otherwise I might still be there! So apparently there are going to be lions in God's Heavenly Kingdom on Earth‚ praise God!

70. SO "ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD, & WITH GOD NOTHING SHALL BE IMPOSSIBLE!" Praise God! And "all things are possible to him that believeth"! (Mt.19:26; Mk.9:23; Lk.1:37.) So if God shows me in a dream that lions are going to take care of calves & lambs, then I'll believe it, praise God!—And I have the feeling that in a sense we were the lions, that you are the lions‚ the young lions—the young whelps that work for the Old Lion, praise God!

71. OH, & THAT'S ANOTHER THING‚ THE LORD HAS LIKENED ME TO A LION! Remember the Ol' Lion whose teeth were still very good? (See "Beauty & the Beasts" No.309.)—We've been using that symbol ever since, because that's the way the Lord saw me, & so we felt it was fitting to use it! So if I'm an old lion then you're surely my young lions, praise God? Hallelujah!—And you're taking care of the sheep & the goats & the herds & the flocks, praise God! TYL!

72. EVEN PART OF GOD'S KINGDOM IS LIKENED UNTO A LION, if you recall the four beasts of Ezekiel's vision! One had the face of a lion‚ a lion who obviously was working for God & a part of that amazing system of God which Ezekiel saw as "a wheel within a wheel" like the very chariot of God Himself! (Eze.1 & 10.) There are a lot of references in the Bible to lions, some good & some bad, but always being used as a type of great strength.

73. AND OF COURSE ISRAEL & THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL WERE LIKENED UNTO LIONS. Israel's warriors were said to have the hearts of lions! And the Word also speaks of "the king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion"! (Prov.19:12)—And Yours Truly has been depicted in this way several times in the Letters as roaring like a lion! And it also says that "the righteous are as bold as a lion"! (Prov.28:1)—& that the lion is the strongest among beasts. (Prov.30:30.)—But that "a living dog is better than a dead lion" (Eccl.9:4).

74. IF YOU'VE LOST YOUR FIRE, IF YOU'RE LOST YOUR SPIRIT, IF YOU'VE BECOME AN OLD BOTTLE, AN OLD DEAD LION, you're even worse than a dog!—And the Scripture doesn't speak very complimentary about dogs, usually that they're unclean! It compared the Gentiles to dogs‚ & about the only complimentary thing the Scripture says about dogs is that they are supposed to warn the righteous of the wicked. But it says of some of the prophets of God, "they are dumb dogs which cannot even bark" & warn the people! (Isa.56:10)—So how much worse than even a dead lion is a dumb dog!

75. IN MY DREAM THERE WAS A DEAD LION, WHICH SHOWS THAT SOMETHING IS VERY VERY WRONG WITH THAT PERSON!—One who has died in spirit, you might say, because of lack of faith, lack of life in the Lord, & lack of faithfulness to his master, & therefore he was cut off from amongst his people. (He later defected to the U.S. grave!)

76. IN DANIEL'S VISIONS, BABYLON, THE GOLDEN HEAD OF THE IMAGE, WAS ALSO LIKENED TO A GOLDEN LION! It was considered the greatest of all kingdoms aside from the Kingdom of Christ—the greatest of all the kingdoms of man, the Golden Age, the Golden Kingdom! It says that the Lord Himself sometimes roars like a lion, & of course it also says that the Devil roars like a lion too.

77.—THE MAIN THING IS, WHOSE ROARING ARE YOU GOING TO PAY ATTENTION TO ANYHOW?—GOD'S OR THE DEVIL'S? Peter says, "The Devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour!" (1Pe.5:8)—& when God roars He's usually angry too & might devour you if you don't behave! It even speaks of angels having loud voices, "as when a lion roareth" in Revelation 10:3.

78. IT EVEN SAYS THAT ALTHOUGH THE ANTICHRIST IS A COMBINATION OF A NUMBER OF BEASTS, THAT HE WILL HAVE A "MOUTH AS A LION". (Rev.13:2.) In other words, he will try to imitate the mouth of Jesus Christ, our Lion of the Tribe of Judah, or the mouth of God with his words, & some people are going to believe him.

79. IT SAYS THAT SAUL & JONATHAN WERE EVEN STRONGER THAN LIONS, (2Sam.1:23), & that some of David's warriors had faces like lions. (1Chron.12:8.) And there were also many lions amongst the carved decorations of the temple symbolising the strength of Israel & the strength of God. But even the lions, it says, have to "seek their meat from God." (Ps.104:21.)

80. IT'S EVEN MORE MIRACULOUS TO THINK‚ AS THE SCRIPTURE FINALLY SAYS‚ THAT THE CALVES & THE YOUNG LIONS ARE GOING TO LIE DOWN TOGETHER!—And this is exactly according to the picture that I saw in my dream. Here were the young lions taking care of the calves‚ the flock, & this was a very young lion that leaped over the fence & came running toward me & leaped up upon me like a happy dog with his paws on my shoulders & licking me on the face, & then ran to greet his master. Why he should have run to me first, I don't know‚ but he seemed to be very happy that I had come!

81. ARE YOU HAPPY WHEN I COME, MY DEAR YOUNG LIONS?—WHEN YOUR OLD PAPA LION VISITS YOU IN HIS LETTERS, even though they sometimes roar? Well, better a roaring lion that a dead one, amen?—Because a dead lion is a very sad picture, & that's what we had in this dream.—A dead lion, a lion that had lost its life, a lion whom the life had gone out of‚ a lion who was being bemourned & bemoaned because it was dead—apparently the picture is spiritually dead—& whose master was mourning for him, putting up an altar with candles in memoriam & having prayers for him.

82. WELL‚ IF YOU CAN STILL PRAY FOR HIM I GUESS THERE MUST BE SOME HOPES FOR HIM as for this young man that I have had to cut off from my presence & from his working personally with me because of his many complaints & selfish sorrow for himself.—Feeling sorry for himself with a bad case of the "poor me's," when he should be rejoicing & being so thankful that he was able to live in the house of the King & to serve the Lord so closely with us!

83. BUT THROUGH HIS MURMURING & COMPLAINTS & BELLYACHING & HIS BAD SPIRIT HE HAD BROUGHT ABOUT HIS OWN DEATH‚ so to speak, & had to be cut off from the other lions who were watching the flock—at least cut off from my own personal little domestic staff, & my little flock here. Perhaps some of these "exposures" weakened his faith, some of these Devil's lies!

84. PERHAPS SOME OF THESE EXPOSES OF LOSING OUR PANTS THREE TIMES IN SOME OF THESE MAGAZINE ARTICLES & NEWSPAPERS—having them stripped away & our inner secrets laid bare—perhaps some of these things caused him to lose faith, lose heart & no longer have the courage of a lion.—Maybe this is what killed his spirit, maybe he believed those lies of the Devil instead of listening to the Lord.

85. BECAUSE IT WAS VERY SAD TO SEE THAT LION'S HEAD THERE DEAD IN THE BOTTOM OF A PIT—it's like he'd gone back to the pit & was lying there dead in the pit! But nevertheless his keeper still mourned over him, setting up an altar & candles for him to pray for him‚ so we trust there's still hopes for him.

86. BUT YOU BETTER BE CAREFUL YOU DON'T TURN INTO A DEAD LION, because the Scripture says even a dog is better than a dead lion! Even the dogs of this World are better than the dead lions of the Lord! What a sad sight some of these dead lions are, these backsliders that go back on the Lord & murmur against Him & His leadership & their life of service for Him—it's really pitiful!—Dead lions!

87. ONCE THEY WERE BEAUTIFUL, ONCE THEY WERE ALIVE, once they were strong & vigorous in their service for God, but now dead through having gotten out of His will or murmuring & complaining—even in spirit if not with their voice—you can feel it. I could feel it, I'm sure he could feel it, & pretty soon everybody around him could feel it, until some said that they were worried about him, that he seemed to be "out of it," as they say.

88. WELL, HE WAS SOON OUT OF IT ALL RIGHT, HE WAS SOON OUT OF OUR SERVICE HERE, soon out of our house & out of our immediate family. We had to send him somewhere else to try to teach him a lesson & hope that he would learn. And like his Keeper‚ we still pray over him & yearn for him & pray for him that God will somehow do a miracle & bring him back to life & stop his poor me's & his murmurings & his complaints against God for his lot!

89. BUT WHY SOUTH AFRICA'S LINKED WITH THIS, I DON'T KNOW, unless that is some indication of what perhaps might bring him back to life!—If we could send him someplace like that, some mission field, some frontline trenches, some pioneer field‚ that perhaps might inspire him & bring him back to life & make him thankful for what he used to have!

90. HOW DIFFERENT WAS THE HAPPY LION WHO CAME FROM WATCHING THE FLOCKS, leaping over the fence to jump up on me & lick my face & play around like some animals will do when they're happy‚ jumping up on me & his keeper, & so happy—happy to see me, happy to be with me!—Just the opposite from this poor young lion who has just left us—dead in spirit, down in heart & unhappy.

91.—UNHAPPY TO BE WITH ME, UNHAPPY TO BE IN MY HOUSE, COMPLAINING ABOUT HIS LOT & yet now maybe he's going to be even more unhappy when he realises what he's lost! Even his own wife couldn't stand him anymore, couldn't bear to have to put up with him‚ & said she just didn't know how she could put up with it anymore!

92. SO FOR GOD'S SAKE‚ BELOVED, DON'T BE A DEAD LION! It's better to be a live dog than a dead lion. Be a happy lion! Be a joyous lion! Be a lion that's thankful & happy for your lot in service to God. Amen? Praise God! Thank You Jesus! Be a happy lion for Jesus! Praise God? God bless you all, we love you! Amen.

93. MAYBE THE TWO LADIES IN THE DREAM REPRESENTED GOD'S WIFE OR WIVES or the rest of the Church who were concerned about some of these things which were occurring, about the safety of her Husband, & also concerned over the loss of this one young lion. Apparently one of them appeared to be the wife of the Keeper who was not there visible at the time, like God Himself.

94. SO I HOPE YOU'LL REMEMBER THAT LESSON ON THE DEAD LION—THAT EVEN A LIVING DOG IS BETTER THAN A DEAD LION!—Solomon says.—A dead lion out of whom has departed spirit & light & life & one who is full of complaint & murmuring & darkness & criticism. Of course, certainly "better a living dog than a dead lion‚" but please, let's be living lions‚ amen?

95. GOD BLESS YOU ALL MY DEAR LITTLE WHELPS, I LOVE YOU! Praise the Lord! Bye-bye! xxxxxxx! And oh yes, P.S., why was Maria a lioness? Well, of course because I'm a lion! Ha! So what else would I want but a lioness, amen? GBY! ILY! Bye-bye! xxxxxxx! She is my little Leo, you know! Hallelujah! Let's all give a mighty roar for Jesus!—Amen? PTL!—GBAKY living lions for the Lord!—Amen?

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family